15th March- anniversary of Revolution and Freedom Fight of 1848
On the 15th of March, Hungary celebrates the anniversary of the revolution of 1848 against the Habsburg Empire. The revolution and war for independence is celebrated with state organized festivities and traditional Hussars procession in front of the Budapest Parliament. This day Hungarians pin on their coats above their hearts a cockade of national colours. […]
A nation born on horseback – the ancient Hungarian tribes
Hungarians are said to be an equestrian nation, and in fact this is not just a myth. The ancestors of Hungarians used to live in the centre of the Eurasian nomadic pastoral life, where they took active part in the domestication and utilising of horses. All were highly professional riders, able to stand on their horses’s […]
Hungarian Chivalry, knight’s life in Anjou Charles Robert’s court in the 14th century
Chivalry is the generic term for the knightly system of the Middle Ages and for virtues and qualities it inspired in its followers. The word evolved from terms such as chevalier (French), caballero (Spanish), and cavaliere (Italian), all meaning a warrior who fought on horseback, but the term came to mean so much more during […]
The Millenium Celebrations of 1896
In 1896 Hungary celebrated the millennial anniversary of the Settlement of Magyars in the country, in the framework of which festivities were held across Hungary. There was a boom in the fields of culture, sports, press and the theater life of the country. Several entertainment and public buildings were erected in Budapest in the framework […]
Bibliotheca Corviniana – a library on UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register
Bibliotheca Corviniana was one of the most renowned, and second largest libraries of the Renessaince world. The library was established by King Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary, Czechs, Poland, Croatia and Transylvania between 1458 and 1490. Matthias was indisputably the greatest man of his day, and one of the greatest monarchs who ever reigned. Though naturally passionate, Matthias’s self-control was […]
A ‘hanged’ prime minister – who was Count Gyula Andrássy?
Count Gyula Andrássy of Csíkszentkirály and Krasznahorka – after whom Andrássy avenue Budapest was named – served as prime minister of the Austrian-Hungarian Monarch between 1867 and1871, and subsequently as foreign minister from 1871 up to 1879. From the village of Oláhpatak, where he was born in 1823, to the highest position of Hungary there […]
The history of Stalin’s boots
The Stalin Monument in Budapest was completed in December 1951 as a “gift” to Joseph Stalin from the Hungarian People on his seventieth birthday (December 21, 1949). The statue was erected near to the Heroe’s Square in Budapest. The monument not only demonstrated Stalin’s power, but the power of the Hungarian Working People’s Party as […]
The children of glory – lads of Pest in 1956
The so-called “Lads of Pest” – youngsters mostly in their teens or early twenties who took up arms to fight against Soviet occupation – are a familiar symbol of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution and freedom fight. As many of them served as commanders of armed insurgency units, many of them were either killed in combat or […]
The Hungarian McDonald’s story
We were waiting for the opening of the first McDonald’s in Budapest like Christmas Day. In the legendary movie, Time Stands Still, the main characters claim they feel a little high after drinking Coca Cola, not because of the taste, but because of the freedom it represented. I know exactly what they meant. As for […]
Great History of a little country – the history of Hungary up to 1956
The beginnings – Conquest of the Carpathian basin The written history of Hungary started with the Romans, though there are some evidences, that also Celtic people were attracted by the fertile soil and the hotprings of this territory to settle down here. The Roman legions arrived here around 10 A.D, and marked the boundarias of […]
Matyó culture of Hungary
The „matyó” folkwear is world famous. Some says, the „matyó” people are the descendants of King Matthias’ s Hungarian bodyguards, but the nickname actually can have other origins too. „Matyó”s live in a few villages around Mezőkövesd in Borsod county. Mezőkövesd is the „heart of the Matyóland”, but the nearby Tard and Szentistván are also notable […]
Komondor, puli, vizsla – the most famous Hungarian dog breeds
The Komondor is considered one of Hungarian national treasures. In medieval times komondor puppies were often presented by the Hungarian kings to other European rules, and the present was more, then highly appreciated. Komondor is a big, white dog with a long wire coat resembling dreadlocks or a mop head. It’s often confused with white […]
The thousand years old monastery – Pannonhalma Benedictine Archabbey
Pannonhalma – listed as UNESCO World Heritage Site on the 1000nd anniversary of its foundation in 1996 – illustrates in an exceptional manner the structure and setting of an early Christian Monastery that has evolved over 1,000 years of continuous use. Its location and the early date of its foundation bear unique witness to the propagation […]
